Ionic liquid assisted hydrothermal synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles: photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

Abstract

In this work, anatase phase TiO2 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized at 130 °C for 2 days via ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method. The obtained products were characterized using various analytical techniques. X-ray diffraction data reveals that sample has anatase TiO2 nanoparticles. FTIR spectrum shows that the presence of ionic liquid and indicates Ti-O-Ti peak at around 456 nm and the bands at 1410 and 1581 cm−1 indicates C–H in-plane vibrations and stretching of imidazolium ring. UV–Vis spectrum shows maximum band at 272 nm due to TiO2 nanoparticles. SEM images show the TiO2 nanoparticles are almost spherical in shape. TEM images reveal that the average diameters of TiO2 nanoparticles are in the range of 35 nm. TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue organic dye. Furthermore, the antibacterial properties of TiO2 nanoparticles were investigated against four bacterial strains using the agar well diffusion method. Keywords: TiO2, Hydrothermal, Ionic liquid, Photocatalysis, Antibacterial activity